Appeals Court to Hear Special Counsel’s Argument Against Judge’s Block on Trump Report

The Justice Department has filed an urgent request with a federal appeals court, seeking a swift reversal of a lower court judge’s decision that is preventing the release of any part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigative report concerning President-elect Donald Trump. This motion, filed late Friday, marks the latest chapter in a legal dispute over whether any sections of Smith’s report can be made public before Trump officially takes office on January 20.

The Justice Department’s push to release the report before Trump’s inauguration is motivated by concerns that once he assumes the presidency, his administration—potentially influenced by members of his personal legal team in key government positions—might work to suppress the report’s findings. The department is particularly eager to release one section of the two-volume report, which addresses Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to President Biden.

The department has made it clear that it does not intend to release the second volume, which concerns Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in January 2021, as long as criminal proceedings involving two of his co-defendants remain ongoing. While both investigations led to indictments against Trump, special counsel Smith’s team decided to cease the cases after Trump’s election victory in November 2020, citing a Justice Department policy that prohibits the federal prosecution of a sitting president.

In a related development, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, rejected an emergency request from Trump’s defense team on Thursday to block the release of the election interference portion of the report. This part of the report details Trump’s efforts before the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot to disrupt the 2020 election outcome. Despite this, the appeals court upheld an injunction issued by a lower court judge, Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, stating that the report’s findings could not be made public until at least three days after the legal dispute is resolved by the appeals court.

Lawyers representing Trump’s co-defendants in the classified documents case, Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, have requested that Judge Cannon extend her injunction and hold a hearing to evaluate the merits of their request to block the release of the report.

In response, the Justice Department filed a motion late Friday, urging the appeals court to immediately lift Judge Cannon’s injunction in its entirety. The department pointed out that, in addition to blocking the public release of the election interference report, Cannon’s order also prevents government officials from privately sharing the classified documents report with key members of Congress, including the leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary committees.

The Justice Department argued that Cannon’s decision was “plainly erroneous,” stating that the Attorney General, as the Senate-confirmed head of the Department of Justice, holds the authority to oversee all department personnel and operations. The department emphasized that this authority extends to the decision of whether to release an investigative report compiled by department officials, asserting that the Attorney General is within his rights to determine if and when such a report should be disclosed.

Justice Department regulations require special counsels to produce detailed reports at the end of their investigations, outlining their findings and conclusions. It is standard practice for these reports to be made publicly available, regardless of the specific subject of the investigation. This transparency is intended to ensure accountability and provide the public with insight into the investigative process and the outcomes of such inquiries.